Mental Workout Sales Training Series: Discover How To Say What Buyers Want To Hear

The first tape in a 17-video series, Discover How To Say What Buyers Want To Hear is a low-budget (but also relatively low-priced) business video featuring Conrad Adelman and a group of seminar attendees addressing the issue of what customers really want (good value, things which lend a sense of importance to the owner, a feeling of security, a chance to express themselves, etc.). While Adelman's perception that the intangibles are often at least as important as the actual product itself is valid and could be valuable to those working in sales, the format is a little maddening. Adelman repeatedly begins sentences, and then coaxes the seminar attendees to complete them, a feature which both lends a herky-jerky feeling to the proceedings and means that the viewers have to wait. In addition, he directly addresses the "audience participants" through the camera. All of this results in a kind of three-ring circus effect, which only adds to the impression that the production (not the content, which seems sound) was poorly planned. Finally, although the program says that each video lesson is self-contained, the program we watched made a reference to another program "ST10" -- Gain People's Trust and Belief in You (Prepare Answers to Their Concerns Part 2)--and concluded with an exercise on index cards which would apparently be discussed in a later volume. Larger libraries might want to consider this sizable investment (about $750 for the whole set, which is still low for a business video series), but for most this is not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)